User blog:GlitterInformer/Doki Doki Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki SDC: Episode 25 (Sub), 19 (Dub)
Episode 24 (Sub), 18 (Dub) | Table of Contents | Episode 26 (Sub), 20 (Dub) Japanese title: “A Gorgeous Transformation! A New Heroine Arrives!?” English title: “Those Who Defend You” Hey, welcome back. The past few episodes here have been very serious. From the plot arc with Regina to Makoto/Mackenzie’s doubts about herself to Princess Ange/Marie Angelica’s fate worse than death, things have been pretty dire. This episode, though, seems to be taking a more light-hearted tone, or at least that’s what the preview indicates. Let’s jump on in, shall we? As always, there’s an added recap narrated by Maya. DD25 01 added recap 1.png|Maya: "Maya here!" DD25 02 added recap 2.png|Maya: "There's a new Glitter Force warrior on the scene: Glitter Ace!" DD25 03 added recap 3.png DD25 04 added recap 4.png|Maya: "At first, we didn't know much about her, and she seemed kind of unfriendly and very bossy." DD25 05 added recap 5.png DD25 06 added recap 6.png|Maya: "It took us a while to realize she's actually on our side..." DD25 07 added recap 7.png|Maya: "...and what she's trying to do is make us better Glitter warriors!" DD25 08 added recap 8.png DD25 09 added recap 9.png|Maya: "Which is a good thing, too, because right now..." DD25 10 added recap 10.png|Maya: "...the Mercenares and their Distains seem to be getting a lot tougher!" Unlike most episodes, which have the fight scene near the end, this one starts off right in the thick of battle. As an airplane Jikochuu/Distain (male in the sub, female in the dub) scares away everyone at an airport, Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force shows up to fight it. Japanese text is removed from a wall. DD25 11 japanese wall.png|Fire Hydrant DD25 12 english wall.png In the sub, the Jikochuu says that it’s tired of standing in its heels all day. Cure Sword asks who the Jikochuu came from and Cure Rosetta thinks it came from a flight attendant’s Psyche. In the dub, the Distain thanks everyone for choosing Distain Airlines and demands that they all leave. Glitter Spade asks what a Distain is doing here and Glitter Clover says that perhaps its luggage got lost. The Jikochuu/Distain then calls for the princess. Diamond realizes that this is the whole reason that the Jikochuu/Distain was created in the first place. Then, Leva/Riva teleports into the scene and demands to know where they’re hiding the princess. When Heart predictably refuses to answer, he makes the Jikochuu/Distain attack. The Jikochuu/Distain shoots lasers at the girls. Rosetta/Clover blocks them with Rosetta/Clover Reflection. However, when the Jikochuu/Distain just shoots a bigger laser, her shield starts to crack. Just then, Ace jumps in and uses Ace Shot, instantly defeating the Jikochuu/Distain. As the fight anti-climactically ends, we get a shot of the departures board being magically repaired. All of the cities shown are Japanese, which is weird because the dub presumably takes place in America. DD25 13 destinations.png|Toyama, Saga, Niigata, Nagano, Oosaka, Nagoya, Toyama, Saga, Niigata, Nagano, Oosaka, Nagoya, Nagoya On top of the airport, all five warriors have a talk after the battle. Rosetta/Clover apologizes for being such a weak warrior. Heart, Diamond, and Sword/Spade tell her not to feel so bad. In the sub, Cure Ace is stern to Cure Rosetta but still nice. Seeing that Rosetta expects criticism from her, she says that she has nothing more to say and that at least Rosetta realizes her shortcomings so she can overcome them. In the dub, Glitter Ace is meaner. She says that Glitter Clover was weak and that she hasn’t reached her full potential. Her rudeness is mostly in the angry tone of her voice rather than what she says, but what she says is mean, too. Maybe she could actually try giving Rosetta/Clover advice other than, “You’re weak.” We get the opening themes and the sub’s title card. Then, we cut to Arisu/Clara’s house, where Lance notes that Arisu/Clara has been sighing a lot lately. Sebastian tries to cheer her up by giving her tea. After taking a sip, she tells Sebastian and Lance that she needs to work harder if she’s going to become stronger like Heart and Sword/Spade did. Arisu/Clara goes to train in a dojo. Curiously, the dojo has signs with Japanese text, even in the dub. In the dojo, she fights a robot programmed to fight her just like a Jikochuu/Distain would. In the sub, despite being a robot, its voice resembles a human’s; in the dub, it quite obviously has a robot voice. Also, in the dub, the robot apologizes for hitting Clara and says that she programmed it. Does that mean that Clara is an extremely skilled computer programmer as well as a martial artist?? Despite her best efforts, the robot wipes the floor with Arisu/Clara. She refuses to give up, though, and demands to have another round. From the doorway, Sebastian watches in tears as Arisu/Clara beats herself up. This is the first time in the series that we’ve ever seen Sebastian display emotion! While Arisu/Clara continues her practice in the dojo, Sebastian goes to a secret lab of his. It’s revealed that he has created an invention that he can use to help her. For no discernible reason other than the convenience of the audience, he monologues that he has created an artificial transformation device. Name Change: In the sub, the transformation devices are referred to as Communes. According to the Pretty Cure Wiki, their full name is the Lovely Commune, though this name has not yet been used in the anime itself. In the dub, as we already know, the devices are called Glitter Pads. In the dub, Sebastian also says that he must keep his identity a secret from Clara while he’s transformed. It isn’t made clear why. Then, Sebastian transforms into the sixth Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Warrior! It isn’t a particularly remarkable transformation sequence. We just see his clothes disappear (he’s covered in yellow, sparkly light, so don’t worry), him getting engulfed in a blast of light, and him appearing in his costume. In the sub, Sebastian doesn’t say anything after the transformation; all he says is, “Pretty Cure Love Link!” beforehand. In the dub, Sebastian not only says, “Glitter Force Makeover!” at the beginning of his transformation, but his own catchphrase at the end: “Dependable and always on duty! I’m Glitter Sebastian!” I thought he wanted to keep his identity a secret… Still, it’s cool that he gets his own catchphrase in the dub. Sebastian’s Pretty Cure/Glitter Force form looks a lot like Batman. He’s in a black suit and mask and has a big, flowing cape. Outside, Sebastian tests out his new form. He finds that he can run extremely fast – much faster than he could in his civilian form. He then tests out his attack, which is called Sebastian Attack. Not very creative. Sebastian is able to fire a huge and powerful yellow beam, but it leaves him winded afterwards. As he pants, the dub adds dialogue where he thinks that the suit could use some work. We cut to elsewhere in town, where Ira and Marmo are unsuccessfully searching for the princess. Japanese text on a sign is changed. It's kind of odd that a presumably American sign is using meters. Americans would instead use miles. DD25 14 japanese sign 1.png|(Bottom) 300m The other text is too blurry for me to read. Sorry about that. DD25 15 english sign 1.png|Waterfall Park 300m Ira complains that they haven’t been able to find the princess. Marmo accuses him of not looking for her at all, so Ira makes fun of the new hat she’s wearing. In the sub, Marmo says that sunburns are bad for her skin and then gets the idea to go get some “negative ions”. In the dub, Marmo says that Ira’s just jealous of her hat and decides to go somewhere else to cool down. Marmo just happens to come across Sebastian meditating under a waterfall in nothing but a loincloth. She thinks she’s found the perfect spot to relax her skin when she suddenly trips and drops her bag. Coincidence of all coincidences, her bag looks just like the bag containing Sebastian’s Lovely Commune/Glitter Pad. It knocks his bag over and lands right where his bag once was. Somehow, Sebastian gets changed super-quickly (as in, within a few seconds) and heads back. As he goes, he unwittingly picks up Marmo’s bag and leaves his own behind. Once Sebastian is gone, Marmo picks up Sebastian’s bag, not knowing that it’s not hers. Naturally, Sebastian is in for a shock when he gets home, opens “his” bag, and finds a bunch of cosmetic products instead of his device. Marmo is less shocked and more curious when she finds the odd device instead of her beauty products. She finds the deivce familiar and gets a flashback to the girls holding up their Communes/Pads and shouting their transformation catchphrase. Marmo echoes it while remembering. This ends up triggering the device and turning her into a Pretty Cure/Glitter Force warrior herself. As the transformation happens dialogue is added where Marmo wonders just what she’s done. Possible fun fact: the Japanese version may have foreshadowed this. In Japanese, the artificial Commune is called the Jinkō Commune. Jinkō'' kind of sounds like ''Jiko, as in Jikochuu. So, it’s fitting that a member of the Jikochuu gets her hands on the Commune. Back at the mansion, Sebastian finds an odd, two-pronged device among the beauty products. Lance tells him that it’s supposed to be used to massage his face. Sebastian is interested at first, but he then remembers that the weird beauty thing isn’t his concern. In the sub, Sebastian is particularly dim-witted and asks how his artificial Commune could have transformed into all of these beauty products. In the dub, Sebastian comes to the much more logical conclusion that somebody else must have taken his artificial Glitter Pad and that it was probably the owner of these beauty products. Sebastian then realizes that he accidentally told Lance about his artificial Commune/Pad and runs off before Lance can ask any questions. He re-traces his steps and finds his bag right where he left it, but the bag is inside. Sebastian’s panicking over his missing device is interrupted by Arisu/Clara and Lance, who ask what the problem is. Lance asks if he lost the artificial Commune/Pad he was talking about. Sebastian scrambles for an excuse. He’s saved from having to do so, though, when Mana/Maya calls using Lance. Mana says that a Jikochuu is running wild in the Yotsuba Mall; Maya says that a Distain is going berserk in the Clover Food Mart. Arisu/Clara says she’ll be there right away. Arisu vows to protect everyone properly this time; Clara says that she won’t let anyone wreck her family’s store. Some Japanese signs are cut. DD25 16 cut signs 1.png|Free Shipping Nationwide 7/1 through 8/10 12th Ice Cream and Candy Fair Happening Now DD25 17 cut sign 2.png|''Top sign is too blurry to translate'' Food Inside the shop, there’s a Jikochuu/Distain shaped like a food mascot. A sign behind it has text removed. DD25 18 japanese sign 2.png|Food DD25 19 english sign 2.png In the sub, the Jikochuu says, "Mai-u!" over and over. This is probably a weird pun on the word "umai", which means "good". That word can be used to describe food. The monster gobbles up a bunch of the store’s food, much to the fright of the workers and customers. It isn’t the only one pigging out; Gula/Gura, too, is eating the store’s food. As Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force enters to fight him, Sebastian directs everyone else out of the building. Japanese text on a sign behind Heart is removed. DD25 20 japanese sign 3.png|B1 The word below is mostly blocked out, but it's probably got something to do with food. DD25 21 english sign 3.png|B1 Cure Heart is simply shocked that the Jikochuu is eating all of the samples; Glitter Heart angrily tells the Distain that only one sample is allowed per customer. The Jikochuu/Distain happily exclaims that if it eats all of the free samples, it won’t ever have to pay for food. Cure Diamond says that the Jikochuu is small-minded; Glitter Diamond says that the Distain is a greedy cheapskate. This makes the Jikochuu/Distain mad. It attacks… by throwing completely harmless cups at Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force. Cure Sword says that the Jikochuu’s attacks are as small as its mind; Glitter Spade says that the Distain should have chosen a better weapon. Gula eggs the Jikochuu on, asking it if it’ll really take that insult lying down. Gura instead agrees with the Glitter Force and says that its attacks were “rinky-dink,” whatever that means. The Jikochuu/Distain gets even angrier and grows by 50%. Cure Diamond says that Jikochuu grow up quick these days; Glitter Diamond says that this is a real Distain now. But before the Jikochuu/Distain can attack, the fight is interrupted by a new arrival. In the sub, she introduces herself with a noblewoman’s laugh; in the dub, she asks if she can join in the fun or if it’s a private party. Surprise, surprise, it’s Marmo, and through the power of weird magic, nobody recognizes her. It’s time for the new Marmo to introduce herself. All she has to do is come up with a name and a catchphrase… Marmo flashes back to Heart’s catchphrase at the end of her transformation and decides to just copy off of that. Name Change: In the sub, Marmo has transformed into Cutie Madame. She was about to call herself “Cure” Something, but she changed it to “Cutie” after the first syllable so as not to associate herself with Pretty Cure. In the dub, Marmo is instead called Glitzy Marmalade. Similarly to the original, Marmalade refuses to call herself “Glitter” Something. Cutie Madame has a catchphrase: “Overflowing beauty! Cutie Madame!” Glitzy Marmalade has no such catcphrase, unfortunately. I guess this balances out Sebastian getting a catchphrase added earlier this episode. In the sub, Cure Heart thinks that Cutie Madame’s name is Tea Madame (due to her having said “Cu… tie Madame!” when introducing herself) and Cutie Madame angrily corrects her. Cure Rosetta wonders if her being named “Madame” means that she’s married. Cure Diamond explains that she isn’t a married woman; she’s just Marmo. In the dub, Glitter Heart is completely unimpressed with Glitzy Marmalade, who shouts that at least her name is better than “Glitter Heart”. Glitter Clover doesn’t understand what’s going on, and Glitter Diamond (for some reason with a smile on her face) wonders why Clover doesn’t get that it’s Marmo. Gula asks if Marmo ate something weird off the ground. This makes no sense; Doki Doki! Pretty Cure isn’t Super Mario Bros., so why would eating things transform you? Gura instead asks if Marmo cut her hair, and dialogue is added where the Distain asks what’s with Marmo’s costume. As everyone just stares for a moment, Sebastian anxiously realizes that Marmo got ahold of his fake Commune/Glitter Pad, which is why she’s transformed. He’s naturally very upset that his invention has gotten into his enemy’s hands. The sub shows the eyecatches. Then, we return to the action. Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force are still confused, as they don’t know what Marmo is doing with a fancy alias and a costume. Marmo, meanwhile, is enjoying all of the attention her makeover is getting her. She’s so delighted that she lets out a hearty noblewoman’s laugh. This high-pitched laugh annoys the Jikochuu/Distain so much that it attacks her. Marmo dodges and uses her fan to blow the Jikochuu/Distain away. You’d think that with this fight starting, we’d get some really excellent comedy and decent action between Marmo, the Jikochuu/Distain, and Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force. But nope. The fight just ends anticlimactically with the girls automatically finishing off the Jikochuu/Distain with Lovely Force Arrow/Togetherness Power Arrow. They don’t even fight the villains after this. Marmo teleports away after having given the Jikochuu/Distain its “just desserts”, and Gula/Gura teleports after her in anger. So there’s a bunch of wasted potential. Unless, of course, they come back. We do have about half of the episode left, after all… After the fight, the girls wonder what the heck just happened and Heart theorizes that Marmo might be turning good since she helped them defeat the Jikochuu/Distain. Meanwhile, Sebastian thinks that he absolutely must get his artificial Commune/Pad back. Rosetta/Clover notices Sebastian in deep thought and wonders what’s going on. In the sub, this is communicated just with a quizzical facial expression from Cure Rosetta; in the dub, Glitter Clover thinks, What’s wrong with Sebastian? We cut to Joe/Johnny’s shop, where Aguri/Natalie is once again meeting with the other four warriors. She wants to discuss with them a story she found in the newspaper. In the sub, we zoom in and scroll over the newspaper’s headline before zooming out to see the full article. In the dub, this scrolling is cut and we only get the shot of the full article. Here’s the cut content: DD25 22 cut headline 1.png DD25 23 cut headline 2.png DD25 24 cut headline 3.png Unsurprisingly, once we’ve zoomed out on the article, the text is edited. DD25 25 japanese headline.png|The Black Beauty, Cutie Madame, Appears!! DD25 26 english headline.png|Who is Glitzy Marmalade? Interestingly, if you look closely at the English article body text, it’s completely meaningless. It’s the [https://loremipsum.io/ lorem ipsum text], a paragraph which is used as filler space when creating the visual layout of print media, such as a newspaper. It’s just placeholder text, though, so a real newspaper wouldn’t have lorem ipsum in its finished product. It’s a shame that the dub didn’t create original text for its article on Glitzy Marmalade. I’m sure that article would have been a lot of fun to write. I’m not sure what the Japanese article’s body text says. That might be filler text, too. Or it might not be. Aguri/Natalie summarizes the story for them. Apparently, one day, Cutie Madame/Glitzy Marmalade kicked a steel pole in a building under construction so hard that a man working on it fell. He clung to the edge of the building to avoid falling to his death. Madame/Marmalade didn’t save him yet, though; she wanted an audience to gather so everyone could see her act of heroism. Eventually, a suitable crowd gathered, and the man lost his grip and fell. At this moment, Madame/Marmalade came to the rescue, saving the man’s life and earning the admiration of all of the onlookers. Some of the people in the dub’s flashback (namely the man) are pretty badly acted. Additionally, it’s extremely obvious that the reporter shares her voice actress with Maya. The two sound so alike, I thought for a moment that Maya was narrating the flashback. Despite the flashback clearly showing that Madame/Marmalade purposefully endangered the man so she could become famous, Mana/Maya and the others still somehow think that Marmo might have had a change of heart. This either means that the newspaper didn’t say that Marmo was acting so horribly – in which case, why did the flashback show it? – or the newspaper did – in which case, why are the girls such idiots? There’s a pretty funny moment where Sharuru/Kippie, Raquel/Rory, and Lance talk about how cool Madame/Marmalade looks, and Dabi/Davi turns away and says she doesn’t like her. In the sub, the mascots talk not just about her look, but about her growing fanclub; in the dub, they only talk about her new look. Aguri/Natalie doesn’t care about whether Marmo has turned good or how she looks. She cares about how Marmo managed to transform into another magical girl and says that the five of them should investigate her. Aguri/Natalie then notices that Arisu/Clara seems distracted. But when Aguri/Natalie asks what’s wrong, Arisu/Clara says that everything is fine. We cut to the Yotsuba car, where Sebastian is using a tablet to search for his Commune/Pad. In the sub, Sebastian asks himself where Cutie Madame is and corrects himself to call her Marmo. In the dub, he just calls her Marmo and then, for no reason other than the convenience of the audience, tells himself that fortunately, he put a tracker on the Glitter Pad. The Pad then gives off a signal, so Sebastian is able to track it. He follows the signal to a beauty salon, where Marmo exits after being tended to by two of her fans. Sebastian gets out to confront her in a full sort of armor. In the sub, Marmo asks who the guy in the armor is and then asks what he is; in the dub, she asks who the guy is supposed to be. We get an upward-panning shot of Sebastian in his spiffy new armor. In the dub, the first part of this pan is cut so Saban doesn’t have to paint-edit a sign. DD25 27 cut sign 3.png|Restaurant Servi... Sebastian tells Marmo that he is the Butler of Steel. Naturally, Marmo is unimpressed. A sign behind Sebastian has its text removed. DD25 28 japanese sign 4.png|Japanese Food Restaurnat Ser... DD25 29 english sign 4.png Sebastian demands that Marmo give his Commune/Pad back. Marmo realizes that it was him who originally had the device she found, and she refuses to give it back. Sebastian then threatens to use force, and Marmo says that she’d “like to see him try.” Sebastian charges Marmo, but he isn’t able to even lay a finger on her. Every time he gets close, Marmo effortlessly knocks him away with a laser. Eventually, Sebastian falls and his helmet comes off, revealing his true identity. Marmo laughs and teleports away. Not even a second after she does so, Arisu/Clara comes by and panics upon seeing Sebastian knocked unconscious. By night, Sebastian has told Arisu/Clara the whole story. He apologizes for putting Arisu/Clara in danger. Arisu/Clara says that she’s the one who should apologize because if it weren’t for her being so powerless, he wouldn’t have had to invent the Commune/Pad in the first place. Sebastian protests that Arisu/Clara is the best master he could ever ask for. This cheers Arisu/Clara up. She reminisces about how Sebastian always protected her, even when she was little. He’d break her fall to keep her from getting hurt, comfort her when she was frightened, and cheer her up when she felt sad. Now, Arisu/Clara thinks it’s time for her to return the favor. We cut to an amusement park. A sign on a Ferris wheel is edited. DD25 30 japanese sign 5.png|''unintelligible'' Round DD25 31 english sign 5.png|Sea Shell Bay Ferris Wheel A live show is being put on where a masked hero is preparing to fight an evil alien. In the sub, it’s called the “Heroger Show” (“Heroger” being a portmanteau of “hero” and “ranger”). In the dub, it’s given the extraordinarily creative title of “Hero Vs. Monster!” DD25 32 japanese sign 6.png|Heroger Show DD25 33 english sign 6.png|Hero Vs. Monster! The alien and the hero give each other pompous speeches about how they’ll defeat the other. But before they can fight, a gust of wind suddenly knocks out the guy in the alien suit. Cutie Madame/Glitzy Marmalade has once again come to “save the day”, much to the delight of the children in the audience. We get a close up of Madame/Marmalade’s smiling face. In the sub, this is narrated over by her internal thoughts, where she thinks she’d like to get more involved in this play. Cutie Madame then decides to play the role of the villain. She repeats the alien’s lines word-for-word before blasting the hero, too, with her fan. In the dub, Glitzy Marmalade has no inner dialogue. Instead, the guy playing the hero tells her that he’s supposed to save the day in this show. Marmalade says that there’s only room for one hero, and that hero is her. She then blasts the guy with her fan. The wind hitting the hero actor and knocking him over is darkened. DD25 34 japanese wind 1.png|Cutie Madame: "Farewell, Heroger!" DD25 35 english wind 1.png|Marmo: "So beat it, bucket-head!" DD25 36 japanese wind 2.png|Heroger: *screams* DD25 37 english wind 2.png|Hero: *screams* DD25 38 japanese wind 3.png|Heroger: *grunts* DD25 39 english wind 3.png|*grunts* Madame/Marmalade brags about how strong she is and clearly expects the kids in the audience to cheer for her. However, they all burst into tears. This is when Arisu/Clara and Sebastian arrive. Arisu/Clara calls Madame/Marmalade out for scaring the children. In the sub, Arisu says that Cutie Madame is making the kids cry, Madame says that she’s the hero and that her powers exist to make all her dreams come true, and Arisu says that to protect the children and her beloved butler, she’ll stoop to any evil it takes to defeat Madame. Sebastian gasps because he’s moved by what Arisu said. In the dub, Clara calls Glitzy Marmalade a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Marmalade says that it’s better than being a “sheep in sheep’s clothing” and that Clara’s just jealous that she’s stronger and more popular than the Glitter Force, and Clara says that Marmalade’s a fake and a thief because she stole Sebastian’s Glitter Pad. Sebastian groans at his secret having been revealed and tells Clara not to say it so loudly. I’m not sure why the dub made this heartwarming moment into a comedic one. Maybe they thought that Sebastian’s facial expression in that shot was more suited to a groan than an expression of joy. By Arisu/Clara’s orders, Sebastian tells the children to escape. They all run away crying. Humorously, they’re followed by the actors who were playing the hero and the monster, one of whom calls for his mommy. Arisu/Clara then transforms into Cure Rosetta/Glitter Clover and challenges Madame/Marmalade to a fight. Madame/Marmalade is as competent as she was against Sebastian. This time, though, she’s going up against an equally powerful opponent. Rosetta/Clover throws several punches, which Madame/Marmalade dodges. Cutie Madame says that Cure Rosetta is really into the fight today; Glitzy Marmalade asks if Glitter Clover has ever thrown a punch in her life. Then, Rosetta/Clover lands a kick on her. Madame/Marmalade responds by attacking with her fan. Dialogue is added where Marmalade asks, “Are you blown away yet?” As Rosetta/Clover struggles not to be blown away, her three teammates arrive and transform. Sword/Spade uses Sparkle Sword, dispelling Madame/Marmalade’s wind and blowing her backward. Rosetta/Clover demands that Madame/Marmalade give back the artificial Commune/Pad. Of course, Madame/Marmalade refuses. Cutie Madame says that she already wrote her name on the Commune; Glitzy Marmalade says that she actually looks good in her transformed state, unlike Sebastian. This brings up the question of how Glitzy Marmalade would know what Glitter Sebastian looked like, as she never saw him in his transformed state. Though, it could probably be explained by Marmalade being so narcissistic that she can’t see how anyone could be prettier than her. Rosetta/Clover vows to take the Commune/Pad back by force, no matter what. She’s that determined to protect Sebastian, especially after Marmalade insulted him in the dub. Her determination causes her to be surrounded by a yellow, fiery aura. Aguri/Natalie suddenly appears to congratulate Rosetta/Clover on becoming stronger. Once again, she brings up the Five Oaths/Rules of Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force. Aguri says that the first oath of Pretty Cure is that to love is to defend one another. This makes no sense. When you take the last two episodes into account, that means that there have been three first oaths of Pretty Cure. That makes no sense. Numbers are for ordering things! They’re useless if everything is first! Natalie, unlike Aguri, knows how to count. She says that the third rule of the Glitter Force is to “always defend those who defend you.” Also, at the end of her talk to Rosetta/Clover, Aguri/Natalie shrugs. In the sub, Aguri says that one must protect others to protect their own love, so it makes no sense in context why Aguri is shrugging. In the dub, Natalie asks Glitter Clover if she’s ready to keep fighting. Because Natalie asks a question, her shrugging makes more sense. Aguri/Natalie transforms into Cure/Glitter Ace and does her catchphrase. This reminds me: Heart didn’t do her catchphrase this episode. This is probably the first episode in the show that she hasn’t done it. Not that I’m complaining; I’m kind of sick of her doing the catchphrase all the time. This is supposed to be Rosetta/Clover’s big fight; the one where she teams up with Ace and delivers a butt-kicking she wasn’t capable of before. But rather than the fight continuing more than a minute, it seems it’s ending anti-climactically right away, because Ace immediately uses Ace Shot. The Love Kiss Rouge/Glitter Sparkle Stick is darkened more than it’s been in the past two episodes. DD23 26 english ace shot 3.png|The Glitter Sparkle Stick in episodes 17 and 18 DD25 40 glitter sparkle stick.png|The Glitter Sparkle Stick in episode 19 We get a brand new version of Ace Shot. This time, the lipstick is yellow. That means we get some tinting. DD25 41 japanese ace shot 1.png DD25 42 english ace shot 1.png DD25 43 japanese ace shot 2.png DD25 44 english ace shot 2.png DD25 45 japanese ace shot 3.png DD25 46 english ace shot 3.png|Glitter Ace: "Mwah!" The beam is tinted, too. However, Ace’s flashing, white silhouette against a dark yellow background is completely untouched. DD25 47 japanese ace shot 4.png|Cure Ace: "Please let your heart race! Ace Shot! Boom!" DD25 48 english ace shot 4.png|Glitter Ace: "Guaranteed to make any heart go all a-flutter! Ace Shot..." DD25 49 japanese ace shot 5.png DD25 50 english ace shot 5.png DD25 51 japanese ace shot 6.png DD25 52 english ace shot 6.png The yellow version of Ace Shot generates ropes that appear around Madame/Marmalade and tie her up. So, basically, it does the same thing as the purple version of Ace Shot, except there’s a physical means by which the target is immobilized. There was a lot of potential with the idea of Ace Shot having multiple versions. It’s a shame that two of them do the exact same thing. And since Diamond’s attacks also generally freeze people, the blue Ace Shot will probably do the exact same thing. So much for that idea. A flash at the end of the attack is removed from the dub. DD25 53 cut ace shot.png Actually, I guess yellow Ace Shot is kinda different from purple Ace Shot. While purple Ace Shot completely immobilizes its target, yellow Ace Shot only ties them up. They can still move within the ropes. This allows Madame/Marmalade to shoot a beam with her hands since they aren’t bound. Fortunately, Rosetta/Clover blocks the beam using Rosetta/Clover Reflection. And would you look at that! The attack has been upgraded! Before, the shield was only capable of blocking things. Now, Rosetta/Clover Reflection not only gets rid of the beam, but shoots its own beam back at Madame/Marmalade. This is tinted. DD25 54 rosetta reflection 1.png DD25 55 clover reflection 1.png|Glitter Clover: *grunts* DD25 56 rosetta reflection 2.png DD25 57 clover reflection 2.png For some reason, when Rosetta/Clover Reflection absorbs the beam, the dub adds the sound of breaking glass. I wonder if that's supposed to imply that the shield is cracking under the force of the beam? Rosetta/Clover Reflection makes the artificial Commune/Pad explode, turning Madame/Marmalade back into Marmo. Marmo complains about Rosetta/Clover taking away her alter-ego before teleporting away. In the dub, Marmo is usually well-acted, but the dialogue in this particular spot is kind of stilted because Marmo says all three of her lines in the exact same pitches. Ace congratulates Rosetta/Clover. Cure Ace says that Cure Rosetta is a warm yet strong girl; Glitter Ace says that Glitter Clover always had this great power and it was just waiting to be unlocked. This causes Sebastian to cry. In the dub, mental dialogue is added where Sebastian thinks, I love a happy ending! The episode ends at Arisu/Clara’s mansion. Arisu/Clara apologizes for breaking Sebastian’s Commune/Pad. Sebastian doesn’t mind at all, saying that Arisu/Clara didn’t need him to use it anyway. Arisu/Clara says that one thing she does need Sebastian for is making amazing tea, and she hopes that he’ll continue serving her for a long time to come. Sebastian says that’s what he wants as well. With this, the episode ends. Overall: This episode was great on its own. However, it wasn’t a great Arisu/Clara episode. The past few episodes have been focusing on the personal development of the main characters. Episode 23->17 focused on Mana/Maya, episode 24->18 focused on Makoto/Mackenzie, and next episode is going to focus on Rikka/Rachel. But this episode didn’t focus as much on Arisu/Clara, who has been ignored for a while, but Sebastian instead. Arisu/Clara’s conflict about not being a good enough warrior was shoehorned into her own plot-important episode. And her fight against Cutie Madame/Glitzy Marmalade was pretty anti-climactic, although the upgrade to Rosetta/Clover Reflection was awesome. Rosetta/Clover was finally able to finish a battle by herself! That being said, Sebastian was an engaging character to watch. He’s already been a pretty memorable side character, but this episode is his day in the limelight. We get more insight into his relationship with Arisu/Clara. And rather than being hypercompetent at times, we see that he, too, can fail comically or cry with joy. He now truly seems like a human being. Plus, although his Pretty Cure/Glitter Force form wasn’t really used, Sebastian is technically the first male Pretty Cure/Glitter Force warrior in the franchise! Some fans of the sub don’t consider Sebastian to be a “real” Cure because his name was never stated to be “Cure Sebastian”, he did transform with a Lovely Commune, which makes him a Pretty Cure in my book. And in the dub, he is explicitly Glitter Sebastian. It’s great to see that Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force isn’t a girls only club, and that a man doing such a traditionally feminine activity as transforming into a magical girl warrior is portrayed in a positive light. What’s more, Marmo was very entertaining in this episode, too. At the beginning of the series, I complained about Ira and Marmo being bland. But I feel that in the past several episodes, they’ve had their memorable comedic moments. I liked episode 19 because of how much charisma the Jikochuu/Mercenare Trio had when playing off each other and the main characters. Ira had some pretty entertaining banter with Leva/Riva and Gula/Gura in episode 23->17, too. And now, Marmo is quite memorable for being an evil Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Warrior with plenty of personality to boot! Ira’s probably going to get similar moments, as next episode is going to focus on him. So far, Ira and Marmo still aren’t as memorable as the Bad End Trio from Smile Pretty Cure!/''Glitter Force'', but I no longer consider them to be boring villains. Next time: Rikka/Rachel bonds with Ira while wondering whether she really wants to be a doctor! Category:Blog posts